Wedding Photographer London, Surrey and beyond

LONDON MARRIOTT HOTEL WEST INDIA QUAY Wedding Photographer

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:42:41 +0000

Every wedding is so unique with stories and events that have somehow collided to bring two people together. Nadia and Jons wedding is a prime example of this. Nadia is from England but Lives in Saudi Arabia. Jon is in the Navy and away a huge amount. They met a few years ago and are proof that long distance relationships can work.

Their wedding was such a mix of cultures with Nadia in traditional outfit for the first part of the day before her big reveal in her second stunning dress.

This was the first time that I had organised a ‘first look’ where the bride and groom see each other before the ceremony and have a few minutes together. Usually this would be great for hugs and kisses but poor Jon wasn’t allowed to touch Nadia as they were not yet officially married!

This was such a joyful wedding which hopefully comes out in the small selection of images below. Nadia’s mum was brilliant and hardly left the dance floor all night. There will be a slideshow here is a few weeks with more images from the day. Feel free to comment or ‘like’ this post below.

Suppliers on the day were:

PHOTOGRAPHER Energy Photographic Sean Gannon www.energyphotogrpahic.co.uk

WEDDING PLANNER Lisa Baker Just Bespoke www.just-bespoke.com

CEREMONY VENUE Sulemaniye Mosque www.suleymaniye.org

RECEPTION VENUE Marriott Hotel West India Quay www.marriott.co.uk

TRANSPORTATION This Bus www.thisbus.com

CATERER Noura Chahine www.noura.co.uk

FLORIST Designer Flowers www.staceystevens.co.uk

DECORATION The Wedding Lounge www.theweddinglounge.com

NANNY SERVICE Nanny Angels www.nannyangels.co.uk

CAKE MAKER Maisie Fantaisie www.maisiefantaisie.co.uk

RECEPTION BAND / DJ Freestyle Funk Collective www.freestylefunkcollective.com

VIDEO Shoot-it-Yourself www.shoot-it-yourself.co.uk

HAIRDRESSER Daniel Galvin www.danielgalvin.com

STATIONERY Wedding Paper Divas

Pembroke Lodge Wedding Photography Surrey

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 07:48:31 +0000

With the crazy weather we are having at the moment, we all knew that this wedding wasn’t going to be the brightest weather wise. However, once again I seem to be fortunate enough to capture some of the happiest couples no matter what the weather is doing. Its lovely to see a bride dancing while getting ready. Its always great when a couple relax on a wedding day after all the stress building up and that feeling emanates through to their friends and family. Every wedding has its own unique moments and this was no exception. Janines sister was fantastic at singing to the congregation which the register was being signed at St Nicolas Church in Thames Ditton and it was lovely to see all her work colleagues take their lunch hour off to come and congratulate her. Rarely for a bride and groom, they got to spend some time just on their own as I think they took the longest ever route to Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park. As is becoming more and more popular, Janine also spoke after the wedding breakfast with a great speech. After a quick ‘wellie walk’ with the girls, the first dance and evening entertainment started. The dance floor was jumping all night.

Here is just a small selection from the day. Feel free to comment or leave a message for Janine and Mark below.

This was also my first wedding photographing exclusively with the new Canon 5D Mark 3

Church: St Nicolas Church in Thames Ditton

Venue: Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park

Featured on Whimsical Wonderland Weddings

admin — Fri, 04 May 2012 08:43:42 +0000

This year has already been a whirlwind with winning the Wedding Photographer of the Year (SW), being a National Finalist at the Wedding Industry Awards and winning a category in the Wedding Photojournalist Association awards. That along with all the great couples that I have met and photographed so far. It is fantastic that I am now being approached my leading wedding blogs and magazines to have some of my weddings featured. There are quite a few lined up and this morning I was delighted when I saw that a wedding I captured in January is now on Whimsical Wonderland Weddings. You can see my original blog post here: http://www.energyphotographic.co.uk/?p=8279

Whimsical Wonderland Weddings have a great interview with them as well about their day, the planning involved and even the engagement. Here is the link to the full post: http://whimsicalwonderlandweddings.com/2012/05/hambleton-hall-wedding.html

Normanton Church Wedding Featured on Whimsical Wonderland Weddings Blog

Wyndham Grand London Chelsea Harbour & Star & Garter Wedding Photographer

admin — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:49:21 +0000

When I called Janine from the lobby of the Wyndham Hotel and heard how excited she was, I knew it was going to be a great wedding. Janine had spent ages to get the last pair of pure white shoes in London to match her stunningly detailed dress. The bridal preparations were chaotic but with a great atmosphere with bridesmaids, flower girls and other family members all helping out.

The ceremony at the Star & Garter in Putney was very special. Olivier and Janines’ Pastor conducted the ceremony (using an iPad, which is a first) and it was fantastic to see such an openness of affection between the families. Both sets of parents hugged during the service and when Olivier collected Janine from her father half way down the aisle, I think the whole room was in tears.

The Star and Garter is right on the river by Putney Bridge and it has some unique backdrops for photography. Bless Janine, as when we went to do a few shots by the river, she didn’t hesitate to stand on the exposed riverbed to get the dramatic shot with the sky.

Not many couples enter the room to LMFAO and get the whole room on their feet and jumping. I also dont think that I have ever seen a groom get on stage, play the piano and sing bohemian rhapsody for the room. The energy was fantastic all day with lots of laughter including when Olivier removed Janines garter on the dance floor.

Congratulations to both of you. I hope you like the small selection of images below.

Suppliers on the Day were:

Photography: Sean Gannon – www.energyphotographic.co.uk

Cake: Delicieux Cakes http://www.delicieuxcakes.co Epsom - 079 6971 2056

Flowers: Phlox Flowers, http://www.phloxflowers.com/ 020 7401 8244

Sound Equipment: Speedy Disco, Fulham - 0207 385 7778

Hairdressers: Maryke Minnaar & Idene Doyer

Make-up artist: Elana Bouwer, 07843 240 448, makeupbyelana@gmail.com

Crazy Bear Stadhampton Wedding Photographs

admin — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:04:26 +0000

Lauren and Ally chose the stunning crazy bear in Stadhampton with its incredibly well thought out decor and a mix of styles including a bus as the hotel reception and a Moroccan themed dining suite. For once, the groom got ready nearby so I had a little time with him and the boys before entering the chaos of the bridal preparations!

Lauren and Ally had some great little details such as the Ferrero Rocher trees that they made themselves and packets of wine gums for every guest. It was such a fun wedding with great speeches full of emotion, laughter and embarrassment for Ally as his teddy bear was brought in as a surprise guest. I don’t think we could have been luckier with the sunset. We got to the field with about 30 seconds to go before the sun disappeared. Once the music started, the night really took off. The dance floor was filled all night. Here is just a selection of images. Feel free to comment or leave your message for Lauren and Ally below.

Suppliers on the day were:

Wedding Photography – Sean Gannon – www.energyphotographic.co.uk

Chair sashes: Vesuvius Su Johnson 01682 525534 - vesuvius_wedding@live.com

Flowers: Sue Barton 01628 482770

Brides Hair & Make up: Calli Plaice 07778159743 - www.callimakeup.com

DJ: Greg Joseph 07958194338

Singer: Adam Parrett 0794110464

Crazy Bear Stadhampton Wedding Photographs

Clandon Park Wedding Photographs Slideshow

admin — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:38:33 +0000

After my recent collection o images from Katie and Jamies wedding at Clandon Park, I have now prepared a slideshow which is set to their choice of music. You can still see the original post at www.energyphotographic.co.uk/?p=8816

I have also received the nicest email from them which is below.

Hi Sean,

We hope you are well and had a good easter! We just wanted to say a HUGE thank you for our amazing wedding photos. They are totally exceptional and fully capture the whole day start to finish! Seriously amazing!!!!!!!!! You have been incredibly easy to work with and v helpful! The images are TRULY outstanding and we have had soooo many amazing comments from our friends and family about them! I can’t believe that some of them (daffodil field ones!) are me!!! They look like they are from a magazine!!!! Ha ha. Thank you also for getting the blog and slideshow up so quickly!!!!!! That is a lovely treat after the wedding.

Anyway we know that soon you will become a hugely famous wedding photographer so we are glad we got you now before you get booked up years ahead!!!!

See you again one day,

Katie & Jamie

Clandon Park Wedding Photography

Wedding Hair Fashion Shoot Photographs

admin — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:51:59 +0000

As I specialise in photographing weddings, I sometimes work with other wedding professionals to provide them with images that they use in magazines, competitions, websites, etc. Hector and I have talked about this shoot for a couple of years and it was great that everything came together. He is an award winning hairdresser and works with a lot sof brides across London and the South East. Earlier this week and with permission from a church in Mortlake, we spent a sunny afternoon capturing lots of images. I dont often have a lot of time for bridal portraits on a wedding day so it was great to ave a bit more of a play with flashes and other light sources. I always think that shoots like this bring original ideas into what I create at weddings. These are the editorial images. I also shot a range of images of just the hair which will be used in hairdressing competitions.

Here is a selection of shots. At the bottom is some info for the camera geeks out there. Feel free to leave a comment if you like.

All hair and make up by Hector, Make up by Consuela and styling by Philomena - www.hectorsglobalhair.co.uk

For those of you that are curious about how these were shot:

Equipment Used:

Canon 5D mark 2 – Canon 50mm 1.2 (mainly at f2) – Canon 24mm 1.4 (only on one or two images) – Canon 24-70 2.8 IS – Pocket Wizards TT1 and TT5 and an Lastolite Ezybox with the main diffuser removed – plus one or two Canon 580ex ii speedlights

We shot all the images between 3 and 7pm with intermittent sunshine and clouds (which was fun!). I metered everything and shot in manual. I love to shoot at f2 but that did go to f2.8 and f4 to ensure the hair stayed in focus. The speedlights were triggered by the TT1 and TT5 systems and I think there were only a couple of misfires all day. I calibrated the white balance using custom white balance and an expodisc to assist in calibration. The flashes were generally at 45 degrees and above the models eye line to give a more flattering transition from light to shade on the face. The last shots in the evening were using two speedlights. The back one was without any modifier and the front had the Ezybox. Editing as always is fairly minimal. I like to get it as right in camera as I can. Shot in RAW, I took the contrast to Jpeg levels or higher (65% plus) added vignettes of varying levels and softened the skin. Most images will have had a maximum of 3 minutes spent on them. The majority of the editing was managed in Lightroom with one or two exceptions where I took the images into Photoshop mainly to remove my light stand in one image and to create the sun flair in another.

Feel free to ask any questions below and I will try to answer them as quickly as possible.

Missenden Abbey Wedding Photographs

admin — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 21:56:32 +0000

I am often made to feel very welcome at weddings. Its a great part of my job to share in someones special day. From the first time I met Lou and Phil, they couldn’t have been more welcoming and I knew that this would lead to a great wedding. Louisa put so much effort into the day. She even had a variety of pairs of shoes for the wedding. Everyone was so relaxed on the day apart from the all the kids who never seemed to tire! The preparation continued throughout with lovely little details such as the handmade table settings and the personalised boxes of M&M’s for everyone. The atmosphere went up a gear in the evening once the dancing and the photobooth started. It looked like they were set up for a fantastic night when I left them.

Award Winning Wedding Photography WPJA (Wedding Photojournalist Association)

admin — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:52:37 +0000

The WPJA (Wedding Photojournalist Association) is an international network of vigorously vetted professional wedding photographers whose work is regularly judged by award-winning photojournalists (including many Pulitzer Prize-winners) and news photo editors. The WPJA is dedicated to upholding the highest standards in creative wedding photojournalism while promoting best business practices.

I am very proud to be a member of the WPJA as its very hard to get into. I am now absolutely thrilled to have won a category in their most recent awards! The entrants for these awards is HUGE. Thousands and thousands of photographers from all over the world enter their images. Previously I won 13th place and was delighted but now to have won a category is fantastic. The category was for wedding speeches. This is one of my favourite parts of a wedding as the emotion, tears and laughter are often heightened. Below is the image that won taken from the WPJA site.

The judges comment reads: Photographer did a nice job lining up the bride to the speaker. I like the way the speaker’s body takes up most of the frame. You can see and feel the bride’s embarrassment.

Wedding Photojournalist Association – Award Winning Photograph

Wedding Photojournalist Association – Winning Photograph by Sean Gannon – Energy Photographic

Clandon Park Wedding Ceremony Photographs

admin — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 11:01:06 +0000

Almost 3 years ago, I first met Katie & Jamie when I photographed her sisters wedding. They met when they played the lead roles in Starlight Express (hence the cake topper). Both are super talented with Jamie currently starring in the Lion King in the West End. Katie has a stunning voice and sang at her sisters wedding. A lovely favour that Lucy returned at this wedding. The ceremony was one of the most emotional and one of the most laughter filled I have photographed.

As you can see, Clandon House is a great venue and I am very thankful to Katie for walking through the field of daffodils in her wedding shoes to get the image with the house in the background. The effort in the small details of the wedding were huge. Katie made their table plan and there were signs everywhere you looked. Their names were even in lights across the ceiling. One last surprise was that Katie had organised a surprise dance for Jamie just after their first dance. No one had practised together and learnt it from watching YouTube! In case you are curious, the masks at the end are of Jamie when he played Grimbo in Grange Hill.

I hope you enjoy the images below. Please feel free to put any comments in the box at the bottom.

Wedding Venue – Clandon Park - www.clandonpark.co.uk

Wedding Hair & Make Up – Nina at NK Hair & Beauty – www.nkhairandbeauty.co.uk

Flowers by Bridal Flowers Direct - bridalflowersdirect.com

Wedding Photographs by Sean Gannon – www.energyphotographic.co.uk